


Desert Song

by BernadetteHamilton, MistressMacha



Category: My Chemical Romance, The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Danger Days Era, Drama & Romance, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Original Character(s), Psionics, Psychic Abilities, Rivalry, Romance, Telekinesis, The Fabulous Killjoys (Danger Days) Are Not MCR, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:15:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28655565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BernadetteHamilton/pseuds/BernadetteHamilton, https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressMacha/pseuds/MistressMacha
Summary: ‘Turn up the fakes and lies, just answer meYou stare me down and take my only guiseThey need the ones you gotAnd laugh for meDestroy the council while your mother cries-‘“POISON, STOP!” Kobra slapped his hands down on the Trans Am’s dashboard as a girl with pale skin, green eyes, and long black hair stuffed under a brown leather shearling aviator’s helmet and goggles and with a canvas military shoulderbag with a red and white kaffiyeh tied around the strap slung across her body stumbled out in front of them, weeping and covered in blood. Poison swore and slammed his foot down on the brakes, the car shrieking to a stop as she slammed her hands down on the hood, leaving a set of bloody handprints running down the spider decal. She staggered around to the side of the car, yanked the back door open, and threw herself and a pair of rollerskates across Fun Ghoul and Jet Star’s laps. “Go. NOW! They’re HERE! They’re CHASING ME!”After her all-female gang are killed, by BLI, Maura flees into the desert and runs out in front of the Killjoy Trans Am on Route 66, joining them in their fight against BLI.A prequel to the Danger Days era featuring the Fabulous Killjoys and two female OCs.
Relationships: Fun Ghoul (Danger Days)/Original Female Character(s), Jet Star (Danger Days)/Original Female Character(s), Party Poison (Danger Days)/Original Female Character(s)





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MistressMacha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressMacha/gifts).



‘Turn up the fakes and lies, just answer me  
You stare me down and take my only guise  
They need the ones you got  
And laugh for me  
Destroy the council while your mother cries-‘  
“POISON, STOP!” Kobra slapped his hands down on the Trans Am’s dashboard as a girl with pale skin, green eyes, and long black hair stuffed under a brown leather shearling aviator’s helmet and goggles stumbled out in front of them, weeping and covered in blood. Poison swore and slammed his foot down on the brakes, the car shrieking to a stop as she slammed her hands down on the hood, leaving a set of bloody handprints smeared across the spider decal. She staggered around to the side of the car, yanked the back door open, and threw herself, a canvas military shoulderbag with a red and white kaffiyeh tied around the strap, and a pair of rollerskates across Fun Ghoul and Jet Star’s laps. “Go. NOW! They’re HERE! They’re CHASING ME!”  
“Poison shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know if you can tell, but we’re kind of already a gang here-“  
“Well, I was part of one too, and now they’re all dead and BLI are coming. Fucking DRIVE!”  
Poison swallowed and floored the accelerator. “Yes ma’am.”  
Fun Ghoul smiled awkwardly, dodging her wildly swaying military boots as she eased herself into the middle seat, adjusting her faded green khaki hotpants and brown leather hip holster as she sat down, fidgeting nervously with her mismatched striped kneesocks. “Hi. I’m Fun Ghoul.”  
“Phantom Queen.” She seemed oblivious to the heavy greenish-black eyeliner and mascara smeared down her face as she looked around and held up her black, white, and green gun. “Anyone got a spare battery for this thing?”  
“Yeah, we hacked a machine this morning.” Poison tossed her one without taking his eyes off the road. “Poison, by the way.”  
“Cool to meet you, Poison. I’m The Phantom Queen, but you can call me Maura. Thanks for not running me down.” Maura ejected the old battery and loaded the new one in one fluid motion, clipping it back in her brown leather holster and tugging down the hem of her sleeveless black Houston Astros shirt, unbuckling the aviator helmet and shaking her waist-length jet black hair loose. “So, where you guys holed up? It got a laundry? Because I got a LOT of blood on these clothes-“  
“No kidding,” muttered Jet Star.  
“You’re not staying with us.” Poison gave her a look. “Because like I said, we have our own gang, and-“  
“‘Your own gang’? Seriously? What are you, twelve year old kids with a treehouse?” Maura rolled her eyes. “Guess what. I had one too. We were hiding out in a remote cabin hidden out in the middle of the desert with our beloved desert-camo Land Rover Expedition 90. Four of us, including me. BLI found us and killed them all right in front of me, and the only reason I’m here is because I’m a better shot than Korse. Got the fucker right in the brachial plexus of his shooting arm and made it completely useless… for now, anyway. Bet it really fucking hurt too. Getting shot in major nerve clusters usually does. You can thank me later.” She wiped her eyes. “Then I killed a bunch of dracs, but they’d wrecked our car, so when I saw an opening I turned and ran through the desert until I found the road… and then I saw you guys.” She smiled tearfully. “So guess what, your ‘gang’ has a girl in it now.” She gritted her teeth. “Live with it.”  
“I…” Poison swallowed nervously. “Yes ma’am.”  
“We’re holed up in a motel in Amboy.” The other man held out his hand. “Jet Star.”  
Maura nodded appreciatively. “Cool name, dude.” She shook his hand.  
Jet Star grinned. “Cool name yourself, Phantom Queen.”  
“Irish goddess of war.” Maura sniffed and wiped her eyes. “There washers there?”  
“Yeah.” Kobra smiled at her from the front seat. “There are washers there.”  
“Sweet.” Maura settled back in her seat and immediately burst into tears again. “I was the one person there who lived, and now I’m covered in blood, covered in it…” She covered her eyes with her hands before Fun Ghoul could stop her, leaving bloody prints on her face. “It’s just everywhere, I’m never going to be clean again…”  
“You will.” Fun Ghoul put his hand on her shoulder. “You just need to take a nice hot shower, but for now you’re going to take some nice deep breaths for me, OK, in, out, in, out, just breathe…”  
“Thank you.” Maura wiped her eyes and smiled tearfully at Fun Ghoul. “I like your outfit.” She looked him up and down. “‘Keep Smiling’… good words to live by…” She immediately dissolved into floods of tears again. “They gave one of us the chance to be a drac and live but she said no, the dracs are all just people like us and I killed them all, oh my God, oh my God…”  
“They’re people who made a bad choice. They made the choice to kill others.” Jet Star squeezed her hand. “You didn’t have a choice.”  
Maura forced a smile. “Keep Smiling, right, just Keep Smiling…” She started to sob quietly. “Keep Smiling…”  
Poison glanced back. “You wearing panties?”  
Maura’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “EXCUSE ME?”  
Poison sighed. “I said, are you wearing panties, because if you are, you can get out of the bloody clothes, because Fun Ghoul’s shirt is long enough for you to wear as a dress.”  
“Oh.” Maura blushed bright red. “Uh… yeah. Yeah, I am wearing panties.”  
Poison nodded. “OK then. Ghoul, off with the shirt.”  
“I… uh… OK…” Fun Ghoul wriggled awkwardly out of his T-shirt, trying not to elbow Maura in the face and pulling his jacket over to cover himself.  
“Dude, I’m just a girl, why so shy?” Maura snatched the shirt from him. “I mean, I bet you go shirtless at the pool-“  
“He thinks he has weird nipples.” Kobra examined his fingernails.  
“I DO NOT THINK I HAVE WEIRD NIPPLES!” Fun Ghoul blushed bright red, zipping his jacket up as high as it would go.  
Kobra shrugged. “Then show us your nipples.”  
Fun Ghoul went even redder and crossed his arms tightly across his chest. “No.”  
“Um…” Maura looked around the car, clutching the shirt. “Can everyone look the other way, or-“  
“Everyone close their eyes.” Poison glanced at her in the rearview mirror and smiled. “NOW.”  
“WHAT?” Fun Ghoul looked hurt. “Why does she get that and I don’t?”  
Poison shrugged. “Because we didn’t want to laugh at her weird nipples.”  
“I DO NOT HAVE WEIRD NIPPLES!”  
“OK. Then just unzip the jacket.”  
Fun Ghoul went red again and hunched down. “No.”  
“Well then, close your damn eyes, EVERYONE.” Poison glanced around the car as he drove. “OK, Maura, you’re good.” He smiled again. “I have to keep mine open to drive, but you have my word I won’t look.”  
“Um… OK.” Maura uneasily pulled off her bloody shirt and shorts, and Poison snuck a quick look in the rearview mirror. Wow. He smiled to himself and turned back to the road as she pulled on Fun Ghoul’s shirt and tucked her bra away, starting to wipe the blood off her arms and legs with her old clothes. “OK, guys, you can look now.”  
“Guess we missed the show, huh?” Jet Star put on a huge sigh.  
“Shut up.” Poison grinned at her. ““I like your outfit. ‘Keep Smiling’… good words to live by.”  
Maura smiled a little. “Right.”  
Poison smiled back, and then blurted out “And no offence, but your legs are… long. REALLY long.” Wow. Way to sound creepy, Poison.  
“Thanks.” Maura laughed. “Is this your car?”  
Poison nodded. “Yeah, although the Ghoul’s the only one who really knows serious shit about cars.” He shot Fun Ghoul a look. ”Still my car, though.”  
Fun Ghoul hunched down further, muttering curses.  
“Fair enough.” Maura nodded. “SWEET decal.”  
Poison laughed. “Thanks.”  
Jet Star was looking out of the window. “Hey, we’re nearly there. You can meet Fun Ghoul’s girlfriend Shona.”  
Maura frowned. “I thought this was your whole gang.” She raised her eyebrows. “Boys only.”  
“It is, but Shona is sort of an added extra.” Fun Ghoul smiled. “A three-years-and-counting extra.”  
“He met her at a gas station rollerskating down the road.” Kobra glanced into the backseat. “After ogling her for WEEKS.”  
“Met her?!” Fun Ghoul stared at him. “You shoved me in front of her and knocked her down because you knew I fancied her!”  
“What, it worked, didn’t it?” Kobra shrugged. “She offered to teach him to skate, and he fell on his ass about 10 times. Miraculously, she still moved in with him by the end of the week.”  
Poison smiled at her. “You’re going to need some more clothes. Maybe Shona can lend you some until we raid that clothes store we go to in LA. You look about the same size… or I can cut off the legs off a pair of my jeans and give you a few T-shirts. Those should fit.”  
“Thank you.” Maura smiled a little. “I appreciate it.”  
Poison shrugged. “No trouble. I’d ask the Ghoul, but who knows, his weird nipples might be contagious.”  
“I DO NOT HAVE WEIRD NIPPLES!” Fun Ghoul was bright red.  
Poison ignored him. “Anyway, we’ll move Jet Star into me and Kobra’s room so you can have your own room.” Poison finally pulled into the lot at the back of the motel and pulled the desert-painted cover out of the boot, dragging it over the car. “Most of them are derelict and falling down, but we managed to salvage a pull-out bed from one. Jet Star can have that.”  
Jet Star’s mouth fell open.“Why me?!”  
Poison glared at him. “Because you’re the only one with a single room, and no way in hell is that poor girl going to have to share a room with a dude. You want to share our double bed with me or Kobra? Because if not, it’s the pull-out. Tough.”  
Jet Star muttered curses and stomped to his old room to fetch his stuff.  
Poison shook his head. “Take that as a ‘no’…”  
“Hey!” A girl with long blonde wavy hair and huge dark brown eyes wearing denim cutoffs, a cropped Green Day T-shirt, and purple rollerskates with green and black knee-high socks and a black shoulder holster with a green gun skated up. “Who the hell is this?”  
“Her name’s The Phantom Queen, but she told us to call her Maura.” Kobra picked at his fingernails. “The rest of her gang got killed by BLI, and she barely escaped. She managed to stop the car on Route 66, threw herself into the back seat, and screamed at us to drive. According to her, and apparently Poison, she’s one of the gang now.”  
“Oh yeah? Why her and not me, assholes?” Shona crossed her arms. “Give me one reason why she should get to join when I can’t.”  
Maura lazily pulled a quarter from her her pocket, flipped it into the air, and pulled her gun and shot at it. She caught it in midair, showed them the perfect circle shot through its centre, and raised an eyebrow at the others. “Good enough?”  
Poison’s mouth fell open. “I… wow. Yeah. She’s in.”  
Shona swallowed. “Yeah, that’s fair.” She saw the black skates in Maura’s hand. “Hey, cool, you skate? There’s an empty pool out back, great for tricks and just skating circles, like in derby. Sometimes I go skate down the old Amboy Road. You want to come?”  
“Yeah, thanks.” Maura smiled again. “You used to do derby too?”  
“Me? Sure. I miss it like crazy. We can do drills and relive the old days.” Shona grinned and kissed Fun Ghoul’s cheek. “We ladies got to stick together with all these boys hanging around.”  
“Yeah… my last gang was all girls, four of us. Badb, Nemain, Macha, and me. I guess I was kind of the leader, if we had one. It was just us, it was always just us-” Maura suddenly burst into tears again. “They’re all dead, we thought we were safe at the cabin but they found us, they found us and they’re all dead-“  
“Are…” Poison looked at her. “I mean… are you-“  
“Sure? Yeah.” Maura smiled sadly and looked down, fiddling with the hem of her shorts. “I’m the best shot. I’d been on guard on night, and if I hadn’t been asleep in another room at first-“  
“Then you’d probably be dead too.” Poison guided her towards her room. “I think you should lie down for a while… this isn’t the kind of thing you can just shake off.” He took her aviator helmet, bag, kaffiyeh, and skates as she kicked off her army boots and opened Jet Star’s room for her, tidying the sheets and tucking her in. “Come find us when you wake up. Usually we’re hanging out by the old pool on the loungers.”  
Maura looked up at him. “Thank you.”  
“That’s cool. You don’t have to worry about taking a shower until you wake up. I’ll change your linens for you myself later.” Poison hesitated, then licked his thumb, wiped a smear of blood off her face and kissed her cheek. “Sleep well.”  
Maura smiled and snuggled down into the sheets, her eyes already closing with exhaustion. “I will.”


	2. 2

Maura finally woke up several hours later and immediately recoiled, horrified by the blood on her skin and hair. She sprinted for the toilet and threw up violently, hit the flush, and immediately jumped in the shower, turning the water as hot as it would go and scrubbing as hard as she could. She looked around for shampoo and soap and could only find some kind of shower gel, so she upended it and poured almost the whole bottle on her hair and skin, scrubbing and rinsing until the water finally ran clear. She leaned against the cool tile of the shower wall, taking deep, calming breaths, and then rinsed out the last of the shower gel and towelled herself dry, putting on a dressing gown and towelling her hair dry as she went outside and walked towards the pool.  
“Maura!” Poison smiled cheerfully and waved. “Cool kids this side of the pool!”  
Maura hesitated. “I don’t know, I really wanted to come out to get to know Shona- who actually already seems busy with her tongue down your friend’s throat. Never mind.” She rolled her eyes and pointed at Shona, who was busy straddling Fun Ghoul’s lap and kissing him deeply, his hands on her lower back and pulling her in close and her hands tangled in his hair. “OK, yeah, definitely your side of the pool.” She carefully steered as far as she could away from Fun Ghoul and Shona and walked around the edge of the pool, taking extra care not to fall in until she was finally sure she wasn’t going to faint.  
“Stellar choice.” Jet Star shifted one lounger over so she could have the one between him and Poison. “Feel better?”  
“A bit…” Maura bit her lip and looked away, towelling off her wet hair. “The shower definitely helped, but I’ll need new clothes tomorrow-“  
“No problem. We have a clothes store we raid pretty regularly, and I’m sure we can get you… um… female garments too.”  
Maura rolled her eyes. “Just call them bras, Poison, Jesus Christ.” Poison immediately went bright red, “Oh, come on, you must have seen one before. You’ll need a specialist stockist. I need size 32G. Most places don’t stock that size. You might need to raid a warehouse for a company like Freya or Figleaves.”  
“OK.” Poison was still crimson. “In the meantime, we can set you up with some of my clothes, I’ll cut off the legs of some jeans, or maybe Shona- Poison stopped. “Why do you smell like Jet Star?”  
Maura went bright red. “It’s… well, there was no other shampoo, and it was his room-“  
“Which reminds me…” Poison winked at her and stood up. “I have some sheets to change.”  
“You have him changing your sheets for you already?” Jet Star’s eyebrows shot up. “How’d you get him so well trained so quick?!”  
Kobra smirked. “I have some idea…”  
“When I was covered in my friends’ blood?” Maura looked like she was going to throw up. “What is WRONG with you?”  
“Whoa, whoa…” Kobra held up his hands. “I swear I didn’t mean that, I meant-“  
“He meant nothing.” Jet Star gave him a dirty look. “Maybe you could get him to change my sheets too, Maura. After all, it is his fault I’m stuck on the pull-out.”  
Maura went red. “Well, actually, that’s my fault-“  
“No, Maura, it’s not,” said Jet Star gently. “Nothing here is your fault. I hope you can come to realise that.”  
“Yeah…” Maura shifted uncomfortably on the lounger. “I just… something’s still bothering me from before.”  
Kobra looked at her. “What?”  
“Do you think…” Maura hesitated. “Do you think all the dracs are evil?”  
Jet Star frowned. “What do you mean?”  
“My friend Macha, she-“ Maura’s voice caught in her throat. “They had her on her knees, and they offered her the drac mask instead of death. Macha was the toughest girl I ever knew, thick fiery red hair and a temper to match, and she spat on them and told them to take their mask and go to hell. That’s when…” She looked at her knees. “Well, that’s when they shot her.”  
“I’m really sorry.” Jet Star put his hand on her arm. “I didn’t mean to-“  
“But if she’d picked the mask, she’d still have BEEN Macha under there, right? Right?” Maura looked around. “So are the dracs REALLY evil, or-“  
“Your Macha would not have made that choice,” said Poison gently, sitting quietly back down beside her. “Because it would mean she had chosen her own life over the lives of countless others, and that she would rather kill than be killed. That doesn’t sound like her to me.”  
“And all of them made that same choice.” Kobra leaned in. “Yes, they all probably came up with a lot of moral justification and special pleading, and yes, it is a terrible choice to make, but nonetheless it was a CHOICE. They chose to kill, and they continue to choose to kill.”  
“He’s right.” Jet Star looked at her. “Yes, they’re people in there, but they’re killers too. Non-drac people used to kill for sport too. Were they any less evil for being human?”  
“You’re right.” Maura was still staring at her knees. “But I heard some of them have families, and children-“  
“-who are innocents, but whose existence doesn’t give them carte blanche to kill who and when they want.” Poison smiled gently at her and took her hand reassuringly in his. “Please, Maura, this is a war. They’re enemy soldiers. That’s how you need to see them, as enemy soldiers, not as innocents wearing masks. That’s how they see all of us. Their sole aim is to kill us, to kill YOU. Hell, they already TRIED to kill you, and they did kill all your friends. I understand that today has shaken you up, but… don’t let it turn you into a scared, questioning husk of a former fighter. Do the opposite. Hold your anger inside you and then use it to keep fighting.”  
“You’re right.” Maura forced a smile and nodded. “Of course I know you’re right, but a part of me still… I don’t know.” She shrugged helplessly. “I just don’t KNOW…”  
“You’re an incredibly good person, Maura.” Poison squeezed her hand.   
Maura rolled her eyes. “And how in the hell would you know that?”  
“Because, Maura, only an incredible good person would even THINK to question the guilt of draculoids.” Poison grinned and she laughed. “I don’t know why you’re laughing, Maura, it’s true!”  
“It is.” Kobra shook his head. “It would never even have occurred to me.”  
“I don’t know.” Maura shrugged. “It just always BOTHERED me, you know, that we’re meant to be the good guys, but we still ambush groups of what are basically humans too with RPGs and IEDs and SAMs and guns, and cheer and keep score for every one we kill… I guess I just never got USED to it, let alone learned to triumph in it…”  
“Actually, your way is probably the right way…” The others looked at each other uneasily. “We probably should never have gotten so used to it either, but at first it was kill or be killed, and then… and then…”  
“And then it just came naturally.” Poison looked a little shocked. “Murder just came naturally.”  
“Jesus…” Jet Star shook his head. “When the hell did that happen?”  
“‘When’?” Poison was staring into space. “HOW the hell did that happen?”  
“Time. Complacency.” Kobra was staring at his fingernails. “And eventually… indifference, I guess.”  
“Something called ingroup-outgroup behaviour,” said Maura. “I was a sociologist once, and outgroups are usually viewed with suspicion and expected to discriminate against the ingroup. It’s like you with your reluctance to let me join your gang earlier, Poison. Then, I was the outgroup and your gang were the ingroup. In this case, the outgroup are the draculoids. A study demonstrated that ingroup members attributed past discriminatory behaviour committed by individuals of unknown group membership more to outgroup members than to either ingroup members or members of a neutral group. In contrast, past egalitarian behaviour was attributed less to outgroup members than to members of a neutral group. Ingroup members also expected more discrimination from a future outgroup member.”  
Kobra looked baffled. “Eh?”  
Maura sighed. “If we don’t know who did something terrible, we assume the draculoids did it. We know terrible stuff will happen, and we assume the draculoids will do it. I’m not saying they’re good, but-“  
“But maybe we shouldn’t triumph or gloat over every one we kill any more,” said Poison quietly.  
Jet Star swallowed. “Probably not.”  
There was a long, uneasy silence.  
Maura cleared her throat. “Well, now I’ve bummed everyone out, I’m going to go to bed.” She got up and stretched, then looked around awkwardly. “Look, this is going to sound stupid, but can someone escort me just this once, just in case, you know…”  
“It doesn’t sound stupid.” Poison stood up, one hand on Jet Star’s shoulder holding him down in his lounger. “I’ll take you.” He walked around the edge of the pool, drawing his gun from his hip holster and holding it in both hands, pointing at the ground. “I go first, you follow. You see or hear anything… run. DO NOT LOOK BACK.”  
Maura nodded silently, pressing herself against the wall and inching along behind him as he crept along towards her room, opening the door and sweeping his gun from side to side. “CLEAR!”  
She breathed a sigh of relief, following him in as he checked the closet and bathroom. “Everything OK?”  
“Yeah.” Poison was holstering his gun and clipping it into place. “If you don’t mind me asking… why the paranoia? I mean, besides the obvious… they hunt down dozens of gangs every day, so why-“  
“BLI want my sister and her gang.” Maura looked away. “There are three of them - Fódia, or Farly; Ériu, or Erin; and Banba. Farly’s my sister, although Fódia is her real name. They ride around in a van mostly. They have… abilities. Abilities BLI want. They’re not going to stop until they have them, and if that involves taking me first… they’ll do it.” She looked at him nervously. “I… uh… have some of those abilities myself, but nothing like Farly and her friends.”  
“I…” Poison shook his head. “Christ.”  
“Yeah.” Maura smiled a little. “Christ.”  
Poison took a deep breath. “I… I’m sorry if this is too personal, but what is it that you can do?”  
“It’s not too personal. Not for you.” Maura smiled, looked across the room at the glass of water next to the bed, and made a slight lifting gesture with her hand. The glass lifted about six inches off the table, and Poison’s eyes widened. Maura smiled, made a sharp swiping gesture, and the glass flew across the room and smashed against the wall.  
“JESUS CHRIST!” Poison was staring at the water running down the wall and onto the carpet. “And your sister does that too?”  
“No. My sister sees things. The past, present, or future, anywhere in the world. For the future… she can see every possible outcome of a specific event. Trust me, it was NOT useful back on prom night when she was a spiteful 16 year old.” Maura shook her head, her eyes narrowing at the memory. “She wanted me to join them, but… I had my own group of friends. I didn’t want to leave them, so off we went in our Expedition 90, and six months later, all my friends were dead just because BLI wanted me.” She wiped her eyes. “That’s how I really escaped. Using my… quirk. I threw their car 50ft in the air and flipped it upside down, but… but it really exhausted me, so by the time I saw you, I was about ready to pass out. I could barely stand afterwards, let alone walk. I thought I was going to die alone in the desert. I could only flip their car because I was so angry at what they’d done to my friends… I’m not normally that strong. It’s why I slept for so long when we got here.” She looked away. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I just didn’t want you to think I was a freak.”  
“Maura, that’s OK, I don’t think you’re a freak, but why…” Poison was shaking his head. “Why   
the hell didn’t you tell me all this sooner?!”  
Maura looked at him. “Because I didn’t know if I could trust you.”  
Poison raised his eyebrows. “And you do now?”  
Maura smiled. “Yes.”  
“Good.” Poison smiled back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.   
His finger lingered on her cheek for a second as he looked down at her, their faces inches apart, and a shiver ran through her. She swallowed nervously. “Poison-“  
“You’re right, got to get back or the others will mock me.” He grinned and kissed her quickly on the cheek, and then headed for the door. “Sleep well, Maura.”  
“Good… good night,” managed Maura, unsure if she would ever sleep again.


	3. 3

“So… tell me more about your sisters.” Poison and Maura were alone by the pool the following night, sipping sodas. “All I know so far is their names, and that they have a van.”  
“A white van, with caution tape down the sides.” Maura grinned at him mischievously. “That what you meant?”  
“Smartass.” Poison smacked her knee playfully. “I meant, what do they DO…”  
Maura hesitated. “Well…”  
“Look, if you’re not sure, that’s fine.” Poison smiled. “But I swear you can trust me-“  
“There are three of them, although somewhere along the way they’ve picked up some orphan boy who seems to be able to jump through time and/or space. The only thing they know for sure is that ‘that psycho kid is a total asshole’.” Maura laughed. “I already told you about what Farly can do, which is how she recognised what the kid was when he was pushing his shopping cart of junk along the road. Erin… well, there’s no non-macabre way to put this, but she can see the dead, and see auras around people who are going to die. She says the aura start pale, pale grey and translucent, but get darker and heavier until they’re almost solid black in the weeks leading up to it. It’s a pretty grim gift, and it makes it pretty unnerving if you catch her eyeing you.”  
“Urgh.” Poison shuddered. “I can imagine…”  
“Yeah.” Maura looked down. “Now I wonder if she saw it around my friends, and that’s why she didn’t want me to go with them.” Tears started to run down her face. “If she’d only told me, maybe I could have done something, maybe I could have protected them from what happened-“  
“Oh, Maura…” Poison put his arm around her shoulders. “Please don’t let yourself dwell on things like that. It’s not healthy, and it’ll just upset you.”  
“Mmmm…” Maura bit her lip. “And Banba… Banba won’t let anyone know what she does. I mean, WE know, but no one else, and I have to respect that. She is damn powerful though, I’ll tell you that.” She looked at Poison apologetically. “Sorry I can’t tell you more.”  
“I understand.” Poison smiled. “And what you do is telekinesis, right?”  
“Oh, honey, it’s SO much more.” Maura grinned. “Want to see something cool?”  
Poison grinned back, “Always.”  
“Right.” Maura held up her hands maybe two inches apart, palms facing each other. “Right. For this to work, I have to be angry. REALLY angry. So provoke me as much as you can. GO!” She paused. “But maybe cross your legs and put your hands over your crotch if you ever want kids.”  
Poison’s eyes widened. “What the hell are you about to do?!”  
Maura rolled her eyes, “Poison, GO!”  
“Uhhh…” Poison thought about it. “Your ass looks fat In those hotpants!”  
“I know.” Maura laughed. “I have serious junk in the trunk. BETTER!”  
“Ummm… I don’t like you! I find you annoying and pretentious and I wish you’d just go away!” Poison felt a twinge of guilt, then saw a faint red glow between her palms. “I-“  
“Keep going, keep going!” Maura was clearly struggling to hold onto it. “COME ON!”  
Poison racked his brain. “No one here likes you! We all wish we’d just left you at the side of the road for BLI!” The red glow was intensifying, and Poison’s eyes widened. “You’re a jumped-up circus act! Your powers? POWERS? Come on, I bet your sisters’ powers are WAY better, I wish we’d picked up Farly instead!” There was a solid red ball forming in the centre of the glow. “We should have just left you in the desert! You’re useless! No one wants you! When you’re not here we laugh at you, you and Shona and your stupid rollerskates, skating up and down like a pair of entitled children-“  
Maura suddenly slammed her hands together and there was a loud bang, and a tiny, fiery mushroom cloud erupted into the air. Everything within ten feet was blown away across the concrete, the entire pool area exploding into complete chaos as Poison was blown into the empty pool with a loud curse. “Jesus CHRIST, Maura!”  
Maura laughed, sending bolts of electricity crackling from her fingertips. “What you just saw is a minor helium bomb explosion. So, a nuclear explosion. Cool enough for you?”  
Poison was struggling to reach the ladder to climb out of the pool. “VERY.”  
Maura smiled and settled back in her lounger. “What I do is manipulate matter. The world is basically made up of different kinds of matter, so once I learned to manipulate it… you’d be amazed at some of the things I can do.” She finally got up and offered Poison her hand, pulling him out of the pool. “Think of me as a miniature atom bomb mixed with a particle accelerator mixed with a plain old telekinetic.”  
“Wow…” Poison was shaking his head as he dragged his lounger back over to her. “I’ve… honestly never seen anything like it.”  
“I’d be highly surprised if you had.” Maura took a sip of her soda. “But I’d rather use the gun… I don’t know what would happen if I tried that when I was really riled up. I could cause a full-scale atom bomb explosion, or create a black hole, or…” She looked down. “Flipping the car when they killed my friends was a one-off, an instinctive response. Normally I control it. I hold in the rage, deep, deep down. The more they do to me, the more I bury it. I internalise it so no one gets hurt, but you better believe me when I say I’ll use it destroy the head board of BLI.” Maura’s eyes narrowed. “You know what bugs me? That people didn’t forcibly have their freedom taken from them. They didn’t fight back. They didn’t even think of it. They embraced BLI as a protector. They happily traded freedom for a false sense of security, and that makes me sick. They’d rather have a leader with absolute control over them than the freedom they enjoyed before, whatever they think it is they have. This isn’t freedom, it’s fear. And oppression. Report your neighbours. Follow every rule. Follow every BLI diktat they come up with. And if you don’t, or if you’re outside the norm, or if you choose to live outside their controlled areas? They hunt you down.” Maura let out a cry of rage and lightning bolts shot out of her fingertips and into the trees, scorching her shirt and filling the air with the smell of burning wood and flesh. “That’s not freedom, and it’s our job to rip out this cancer. Building a decent future, a decent world, sometimes means destroying the old world… and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”  
Poison eyed the scorched trees. “I thought you said you internalised…“  
“Mostly I do, but… other times it kind of gets away from me.” Maura blushed. “Sorry, BLI just gets me so worked up… they’re bastards. Utter bastards. And we’re going to tear down their damn rotten world and start again.”  
“I can understand that.” Poison smiled at her. “That’s a pretty brave decision, you know.”  
“Not really. It’s just the right thing to do.” Maura shrugged. “Hey, check this out.” Before he could stop her she’d whipped off her shirt and turned around, and his mouth fell open as he saw linked lightning bolts burnt into her entire back, some still slightly glowing, making a beautiful interlocking pattern.  
“JESUS.” Poison’s mouth was hanging open. “What the hell is that? Some kind of futuristic tattoo or brand?”  
“Some kind of brand, I guess,, if you consider I naturally seem to have branded myself.” Maura rolled her eyes. “Watch this.” She concentrated and sent bright, powerful crackles of electricity from her fingertips, and every link of the lightning on her back glowed blue, the tips of each bolt spreading out a few millimetres.  
“Maura-“ Poison was almost speechless. “I-“  
“Yeah, I know.” Maura rolled her eyes. “Ugly, right?”  
“No, it’s beautiful…” Poison reached out and ran his fingertip down Maura’s spine in fascination, and every lightbulb in the motel immediately exploded.   
“…Shit.” Maura swallowed awkwardly and put her shirt back on. “OK.” She gestured at the motel. “Sorry about-“  
“Worth it.” Poison grinned. “I hate to think what might happen if we ever had se- oh crap. That came out wrong. I’m not that I’m assuming we will, ever, just if we ever did, I mean, imagine the chaos, not that you need to, because I’m not saying we would, we probably won’t, I mean, you could do way better, hell, you might with Jet Star, I know he’s into you-“  
“Shut up.” Maura smacked him playfully. “Plus I bet I just got a whole lot less attractive with all those markings, right?”  
“I… I wouldn’t say that,” managed Poison. “In fact, you just got one hell of a lot cooler.”  
Maura laughed. “Thanks.”   
“Do they…” Poison hesitated. “Do they hurt?”  
“No,” replied Maura casually. “Not unless it’s a really big one. Then they sting a bit for a few seconds… kind of like the feeling you get when you’re getting a new tattoo.”  
“Wow…” Poison shook his head, the air still filled with the fading smell of scorched flesh. “Just, wow…”  
Maura smiled, then tried to hide a yawn. ‘Sorry, something as big as that exhausts me, so I might need a lie down now.” She gave him a look. “Alone.”  
Poison went bright red. “I swear I wasn’t-“  
“I know.” Maura grinned. “But you do know I’m never going to stop teasing you about that, right?”  
Poison hung his head. “Yes.” He cleared his throat. “I hope that wasn’t too weird, I mean, before the whole rambling part, or the rambling part, just… not with the others around, I didn’t want them to-“  
“I get it. Discretion is the better part of valour.” Maura shook his hand, lingering a few seconds.  
“Uh, cool.” Poison was still blushing. “Thanks.”  
“That’s OK.” Maura laughed again. “OK. I’m going to bed now.”  
“Now?” Poison looked disappointed. “But-“  
“But?” Maura looked at him.  
“But I like spending time with you.” Poison stroked her hand with this thumb.  
Maura smiled. “I like spending time with you too.”  
Poison smiled back and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad… even when you do smell like Jet Star.”  
“Yeah, we’re going to have to get me some soap and shampoo tomorrow as well as some clothes and underwear… I’m not a fan of smelling like dude… or Jet Star’s growing unshowered musk.” Maura rolled her eyes, then looked at him shyly. “By the way…” She bit her lip. “Was any of that true? You know, about not wanting me here?“  
“Never.” Poison put his hand on her leg and squeezed it reassuringly. “I love having you here.”  
Maura looked at him. “Want to meet tomorrow at the bench by the Route 66 sign just east of town at 11pm? Just us?”  
“Sounds good to me.” Poison smiled. “Seriously, Maura. I love having you here.”  
Maura raised her eyebrows. “And everyone else?”  
Poison silently kicked himself. “Are you kidding me? Everyone LOVES you… and we think your rollerskating is really cool.”  
“‘We’?” Maurs grinned. “Or “‘I’?”  
Poison turned crimson. “Both.”  
“Good to know.” Maura smiled. “Always nice to feel wanted.”  
“That’s OK.” Poison put his hand on her arm. “You’ll always be wanted here, Maura.”  
Maura blushed and looked down. “Thank you.” She looked at him hopefully. “So… am I allowed to join your gang now?”  
“Frankly, Maura, after seeing what you can do, I’m a little afraid of what you might do to me if I say no.” Poison laughed. “But yes. Yes, you are.”


	4. 4

“OK, so, you guys know that my gang were all my best friends, and that we’d known each other since high school.” Maura glanced away for a second and wiped her eyes. “But I have no idea how you met.” Everyone was lounging around the empty pool, Shona curled up in Fun Ghoul’s lap. “I know the undignified way that Shona met Frank, but-“  
“TAHT WAS KOBRA’S FAULT!” Frank was bright red. “HE PUSHED ME!”  
Kobra rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but it was still hilarious.”  
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” Fun Ghoul was blushing again, staring at the floor.  
“Nope.” Maura smiled cheerfully. “For everyone else, though… I mean, I know Poison had the car, so did he pick you guys up along the way, or-“  
“Well, technically, it wasn’t originally my car.” Poison shifted uncomfortably. “I had to leave home in a hurry after a revolution I planned back in the early days went a bit wrong.” He blushed bright red. “I was a pretentious 17 year old and I tried to organise what I called a… ‘happening’. It was meant to be a huge statement against BLI… except I cheaped out on the wallpaper paste, and the posters I hung around town all fell down, and I was too busy chatting up girls in the local bar to hand out enough pamphlets, and you can’t really start an effective revolution with three vagrants, ten of your mates, your sister, a few hipsters with pillows who thought it was a flashmob, and your mum. Oh yes, and my sister’s boyfriend, who hated me almost as much as I hated him.” He shook his head. “Total disaster. So, I hotwired the boyfriend’s car, the car that is now MY car, and got the hell out of there before BLI showed up.” He sighed. “I should have learned. No one had ever showed up to any of my previous ‘happenings’ either… and calling them ‘happenings’ may not have helped.”  
Maura dissolved into laughter, gasping and clutching at her stomach. “Oh my God… I’m sorry, Poison, but that’s hilarious…”  
“It is.” Jet Star grinned. “And I smile more every time I hear it.”  
“ANYWAY.” Poison gave Jet Star a dirty look. “It wasn’t long before his piece of shit car started coughing and sputtering, so I had to find a mechanic. BLI had a huge bounty on me, so I couldn’t go to a regular place… but then I heard about a genius outlaw mechanic who worked on the quiet out on Route 66, so I headed out there.”  
“And that genius was me.” Fun Ghoul preened a little, and Shona smiled and kissed his cheek. “And after I was finished laughing at his ‘happening’ disaster, I not only fixed his car, I souped up the engine so well that the thing couldn’t go faster if it fell off a cliff.” Fun Ghoul smiled. “Then I resprayed it white, and put that awesome spider decal on the hood, just for kicks.”  
“And it is awesome.” Poison grinned. “Anyway, I needed a regular mechanic, and he wanted to join my revolution, so he hopped in with me.”  
“But only because he’d stopped calling everything ‘happenings’,” cut in Fun Ghoul quickly. “Otherwise I’d have laughed his pretentious ass out of there immediately.”  
“Look, let’s quit about the ‘happenings’ thing, OK?” snapped Poison. “I was 17, OK?! I was trying to be cool!”  
“OK, so that’s two of you.” Maura settled back in her lounger. “What about Jet Star and Kobra?”  
“Well, Jet Star tried to rob us.” Poison gave him a dirty look. “We were filling up the car near Twentynine Palms and he jumped in and tried to hotwire it.”  
Maura’s mouth fell open. “You tried to ROB them?!”  
“He did.” Fun Ghoul rolled his eyes. “And failed. Masterfully.”  
“Hey, I didn’t know you were good guys,” protested Jet Star. “You were driving a white and black car. I thought you were BLI, and I needed transport!”  
“Well, we WERE good guys, and this good guy dragged your thieving butt out of the car and kicked your ass.” Poison gave Jet Star a smug look.  
“You never kicked my ass!” Jet Star looked affronted.  
“Yeah, dude, he did.” Fun Ghoul patted his back sympathetically. “I was there.”  
“OK, well…” Jet Star scrambled for something to say. “Well, he only managed to kick my ass that one time!”  
“That is true,” conceded Poison, “but only because you’ve had the good sense never to try to pick a fight with me again.”  
“Or try to steal his car again,” added Fun Ghoul.  
“Shut up.” Jet Star went bright red and stared at his feet, muttering under his breath.  
Maura frowned. “So… he tried to steal your car.”  
“Yes.”  
“And you kicked his ass.”  
“Yes.”  
“And… now he works with you?” Maura looked confused.  
“He’s an electrical genius,” said Fun Ghoul. “He can hack anything. He’s the one who built our awesome little handhelds that hack every vending machine we need something from. We needed him on board… so he took our third seat.” He paused. “You know, after Poison was done kicking his ass.”  
“OK…” Maura thought about it. “So, tell me… what’s Kobra’s special skill?”  
“Kobra?!” Poison laughed. “None.”  
Maura almost spat out her soda. “NONE?”  
“None. We got him pretty much the same way we got you, randomly in the desert… except his was through his own sheer incompetence.” Poison rolled his eyes. “We were driving past, and we saw him at the side of the road trying to arm an IED, and from the hash he was making of it I was afraid he was going to blow himself up.”  
Kobra blushed bright red. “Come on, it wasn’t THAT bad…”  
“Dude, the wires were all crossed, you’d wired the plastic too early, your batteries were all wrong… accept it. If Jet Star hadn’t made me stop, you’d be in a thousand pieces by now.” Poison smiled. “So we had Jet Star fix it, and then we took him with us. Call it charity work.”  
Kobra bristled. “CHARITY WORK?!”  
“Yes.” Poison grinned. “Charity work. Face it, we saved your ass on that IED.”  
“Fine.” Kobra looked at his feet. “Charity work.”  
“Anyway, we felt bad for him, and we still had the fourth seat, so we took him on.” Poison shrugged. “He’s actually a pretty good shot, now we have him trained up, although God knows that took long enough. Useful to have around.”  
Kobra gave him a dirty look. “Gee, thanks.”  
Poison threw his hands in the air. “Hey, you want to be here or not?”  
Kobra shrank back. “Here please.”  
Fun Ghoul laughed. “Thought so.”  
“And now you’ve joined his little revolution too…” Jet Star looked at her with interest. “Other than what BLI did to you in the desert, any particular… reason?” He raised an eyebrow.  
“This is war.” Maura looked at him coldly and crossed her arms. “I didn’t think there had to BE a reason.”  
“Uh, Maura…” Poison had noticed the tips of her fingers starting to glow. “You-“  
“War is a sickness.” Maura’s eyes narrowed. “It concentrates power into the hands of those most likely to abuse it.”  
Her fingers were glowing brightly now, and Poison’s eyes widened. “MAURA-“  
“AND IT’S OUR DAMN JOB TO TAKE IT BACK!” Maura let out a cry and swept her hand out, sending empty pool loungers flying in every direction and crackles of electricity flying from her fingers.  
“…shit,” muttered Poison, running his hand through his hair. “Maura…”  
“Holy crap.” Shona stood up and tossed her soda can into the pool. “I’m out.” She stalked off towards her room, giving Maura a suspicious look.  
“Jesus Christ.” Kobra was staring at Maura. “What in the… what just happened?”  
“You’ve seen her do that before, haven’t you, Poison?!” Fun Ghoul looked stunned.  
“…Yes,” Poison admitted reluctantly.  
“And you didn’t feel you needed to tell us.” Jet Star was as white as a sheet.  
“I…” Poison went red. “No.”  
Jet Star still hadn’t shaken off the look of shock. “Because you… did not tell us she could do that, Poison.”  
“I didn’t think it would come up, she told me she usually internalises it!” Poison looked stunned. “I thought I had until she was ready to tell you herself-“  
“So did I.” Maura looked deeply ashamed. “I was just… I was just angry, and I lost control, and… I’m sorry.” She hung her head. “I understand if you want me to leave. It’s one thing to be weak, but-“  
“LEAVE?” Jet Star’s mouth was still hanging open. “THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN!”  
“And you knew?” Kobra stared at Poison. “You knew and you said nothing.”  
“I…” Poison held up his hands. “I didn’t think it was my place… I should have told you sooner-”  
Kobra shook his head in disgust. “Damn straight.”  
“But he was right. I didn’t want you to know, although if you had to… I’d rather you heard it from me.” Maura looked around. “I’m sorry. It’s one thing to BE something, and another for someone you love to see WHAT you are. I was…” She stared at her knees. “I was ashamed. I’m sorry.”  
Poison put his hand on her shoulder. “Why were you ashamed?”  
“Because… because…” Tears began to roll down Maura’s face. “Because I really like you guys, and… and… I didn’t want you to know I was a freak, that I was broken…” She burst into tears. “And now you do, and you’ll all be laughing at me…”  
“Whoa, whoa, Maura…” Jet Star put his hand on her arm. “Why would we laugh at you?”  
“Because I’m a FREAK!” Maura started to cry harder. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”  
“Maura, that was AWESOME.” Fun Ghoul grinned. “And you’re not a freak. You’re GIFTED.”   
“Damn straight.” Jet Star high-fived her. “And you are not going ANYWHERE.”  
Maura smiled a little, her fingers still crackling with blue lightning and the scent of of scorched flesh in the air, and Poison had to fight the urge to rub her painful back soothingly. “Thank you.”  
“No problem.” Jet Star leaned forward. “So you’re-“  
“Telekinetic? Psionic? In a way. Poison will explain the whole deal for you later… he knows all about it, and it’s a very, VERY long story.” Maura sighed.   
“You should practice it around the old buildings, and out in the desert with the cacti. See how far you can throw those bolts, what kind of radius around you you can flatten, and whether you can actually set light to things…” Fun Ghoul looked thoughtful. “Find out what you can do, and really hone those skills…”  
Poison hesitated. “I don’t know if that’s-“  
“Poison, we could use them against BLI. Imagine if she can work up to being able to blow whole BLI city grids!” Jet Star grinned. “She’s like a super-powered IED without the IED!”  
“You didn’t see the helium bomb explosion,” muttered Poison.  
“He’s right, Poison.” Maura looked at him. “This is war… and I’ll use everything I have to fight it.”


End file.
